A pioneer in the development of the neodymium yittrium aluminum garnet laser (YAG), Dodick will discuss its development and use in a clinical presentation "Lasers and Advances in Cataract Surgery" 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the hospital auditorium. The lecture is geared toward the health care professional.

Dodick is chief opthalmologist and surgeon director, chief of cataract services III and chairman of the intra-ocular lens advisory and ambulatory surgery committees at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, New York City.

He assisted Drs. Danielle Aron-Rosa and Frank Funkhauser in their early clinical studies of the YAG in Switzerland and was the first to introduce its use to the United States.

The YAG uses laser beams to vaporize the membrane that sometimes clouds vision following cataract surgery. The procedure requires no anesthesia other than a drop placed on the cornea, is painless, non-invasive and takes less than 10 minutes. The patient usually experiences an immediate and dramatic improvement in vision.

Dodick is also an associate clinical professor in opthalmology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and editor-in-chief of Opthalmology Times.

In 1976-78, Dodick was a co-investigator for the U.S. Public Health Service. He is a past president of the New York Society of Clinical Opthalmology and the New York Intra-Ocular Lens Implant Society, a past secretary of the New York Society for Clinical Opthalmology and the Manhattan Opthalmological Society, and a past chairman of the Department of Opthalmology at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat.

He recently participated in Project Orbis '84, involving the conversion of a 747 into an operating room that was taken to Third World countries to perform eye surgery in impoverished areas. Doctors in those nations were also taught new surgical techniques.

In addition to Dodick's presentation, the eye center, on the third floor of the Trexler Tower, will be open for public inspection 1-4 p.m. The center will feature the YAG, the first hospital-based laser of its kind in the Lehigh Valley, YAG and Argon laser procedure rooms, a flourescein angiogram room, examination rooms, and conference and reception areas.

The ambulatory surgery unit, where more than 90 percent of the cataract patients are prepared for surgery, will also be open to the public.

Members of the Eye Team - Drs. Harold Goldfarb, Harold Buchanan, Thomas Burkholder, Harvey Cheng, David Jones, Robert Kiesel, George McGinley, Paul Schneck, William Trachtenberg and John Wapner - will speak on a variety of subjects at 1:30, 2:30, 3 and 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

Light refreshments will be available following the lectures and tours.

Tour information is available through the hospital public relations office at 776-4689.